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HESA Collections

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Introduction


Version 1.0 Produced 2020-07-30

Context

The HESA Student record has been collected since 1994/95 from subscribing Higher Education Providers (HEPs) throughout the devolved administrations of the United Kingdom. The data collected as part of the Student record is used extensively by various stakeholders and is fundamental in the formulation of:

• Funding

• Performance Indicators

• Publications (including UNISTATS)

• League tables

Record specific detail

The Student record is collected in respect of all students registered at the reporting provider who follow courses that lead to the award of a qualification or provider credit. The emphasis of the coverage of the Student record is those who are (or were) actively following a course at some time during the HESA reporting period. Full details of the coverage of this record can be found in the coverage statement of the coding manual.

Data collected

The Student record collects individualised data about students active during the reporting period. A wide range of data items are collected, including: the student's entry profile and personal characteristics, module and course level data, funding information and qualifications awarded. The detail of the different items collected can be found in the Data Items document located on the coding manual landing page.

There are differing requirements for different types of student, and for some students it is possible to make a reduced return, submitting only a subset of the fields of the Student record.

Students who are studying overseas or who come to the UK for a period of less than 8 consecutive weeks during their programme of study are not included in the Student record but should instead be included in the Aggregate offshore record. This is a complementary annual return which provides a headcount of students studying through the provider's provision overseas.

Data collection

All HESA records are collected on the basis of the HESA reporting period that determines the time period that the data being returned relates to. This ensures consistency across the data streams collected. The reporting period is from 01 August year 1 to 31 July year 2, for example, the 2000/2001 Student record was collected in respect of the activity which took place between 01 August 2000 and 31 July 2001.


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